Monthly Archives: August 2017

Gallup, the polling and research organization, published an essay this week urging colleges and universities to give the liberal arts a new name or no name at all in order to turn the tide on waning public support for higher education.

The word liberal is politically charged, the polling groups essay says, and arts has a negative connotation regarding improving graduates job prospects.

The words liberal and arts just dont resonate in the minds of far too many Americans, especially those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.

In support of its claim, Gallup cites data indicating that a majority of Republicans believe higher education is detrimental to the nation. Specifically, a majority of Republicans voters and those voters who lean toward the GOP say they are apprehensive about the value of a college education because they believe the campus environment is too liberal. (Majorities of GOP voters do not cite cost or career prospects as reasons for apprehension.)

Also, Gallup notes, a recent poll shows that a large percentage of U.S. parents who have children currently in middle school or high school say they believe no college at all is more likely to lead to a good job than a liberal arts degree.

The crafty, high-risk, high-reward name-change strategy suggested by Gallup could have originated in Coming to America, a 1988 comedy in which Eddie Murphy plays a wealthy African prince who works at a fast food restaurant in Queens, New York called McDowells.

As the owner, Cleo McDowell, tells Murphy, McDowells is not to be confused with McDonalds.

Yes, the logos are strikingly similar. McDonalds has the Golden Arches. McDowells has the Golden Arcs. Similarly, says Cleo, McDonalds has the Big Mac. McDowells has the Big Mic.

They both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions. But they use a sesame seed bun, Cleo explains. My buns have no seeds.

Gallup suggests that the new name for liberal arts could be 21st century skills because branding the exact same coursework as 21st century skills fares better among participants in Gallup marketing tests.

The polling group also observes that Republican voters may believe college campuses are overly liberal because of the perceived liberal bias of professors, limitations on free speech on campus and the rejection of controversial speakers the last two of which have been prominently in the news the past two years. (RELATED: College Cancels Debate Between Conservative And Liberal BECAUSE CONSERVATIVE WAS PARTICIPATING)

Putting the words liberal and arts together is a branding disaster, Gallup says. Note, the problem isnt with the substance of a liberal arts education but with the words we use to describe it.

McDowells restaurant Coming to America YouTube screenshot/Daniele Alessandra

The liberal arts curriculum is as important today as it was in ancient times, Gallup argues, because the degree provides graduates with indispensable skills such as critical thinking, effective communication and being able to confront and resolve differences and problems.

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Prestigious Polling Firm: Let's Call 'Liberal Arts' Something Else To Totally Fool Everybody - The Daily Caller

With the study of liberal arts picking up steam around the country, and the sheer variety of options open to those who pursue these disciplines, it pays to understand the nuances of IIT Madras flagship humanities programme, the integrated M.A. in Development Studies (DS) or English Studies (ES).

The current head of the department, Dr. Umakant Dash, has been with the department since 2004. Though the M.A. was initially conceptualised to prepare students for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) and careers in academic and policy research, it has also successfully sent students for higher studies abroad, to IIMs, consulting firms such as KPMG, investment banks, and NGOs. While other IITs at Kanpur, Kharagpur and Mumbai offer economics programmes, the entry-point for these is JEE. IIT-M is the only one to have a dedicated examination for their M.A. programme. Umakant says, The moment you make students take the JEE, youre restricting the programme to science students. Students from arts and commerce wouldnt be eligible there are lots of deserving students from these branches. We wanted to include any Class XII graduate, so we dont miss out on good students, and can give them the best platform possible.

Since its first year in 2007, the number of HSEE examinees has been steadily increasing, with coaching centres emerging for to prepare for this selective entrance test. According to Umakant, around 2,300 students wrote the exam last year but only 46 students are selected for each intake. Ashraya Maria M.P., III, Development Studies urges, It is good to read the papers every day and stay updated with whats going on. If you have a strong base in English and mathematics, up to Class X, that helps. Sannihit, V, Development Studies adds, I strongly recommend reading the opinion and editorial columns in newspapers. Also, you need to have basic knowledge about almost any topic.

One question that comes up repeatedly, is why economics isnt offered as a separate major, as it once was, when the programme was first introduced a decade ago. Umakant fills in the gaps, Our main goal when we started was to offer an inter-disciplinary programme; thats why we decided to give more emphasis to DS. In any case, 50% of the courses are economics-based. Also, at that point of time, we had less number of faculty available for economics. So, it was temporarily halted as a major, though DS, ES and economics can still be taken as minors.

However, with a curriculum restructuring on the horizon, work for potentially reintroducing economics as a major is under way. There has been significant demand for this major, and many queries from students, parents and alumni.

Minors

For engineering students with a penchant for the social sciences, the department offers about 30 courses that can be taken up as electives. Similarly, the M.A. students can take engineering courses such as sustainable development. They have the option of minoring in general management or operations management offered by the management department, besides their departments own minors. IIT-Ms placement and internship cells cater to all of the institutions students whichever companies come to recruit the B. Tech students, also recruit the M.A. students, if the job scope fits.

What makes this programme different from the usual path of three years B.A. and a two-year M.A.? If you take any universitys curriculum, you will see that in their postgraduate syllabi, they repeat all the courses done in the undergraduate years. They provide depth, but the breadth is about the same as the first degree. So here, by integrating the degrees, we try to avoid repetition of the courses, and offer better breadth. But its not the case that we neglect depth, explains Umakant.

For the students, this proves invaluable. This programme gives you exposure to a lot of different fields and perspectives, which you would miss out on if you were just concentrating on one discipline, says Ashraya. Students study a variety of social science subjects during the first two years. They decide between ES and DS in their third semester, and are allotted majors according to their prior performance, as well as their personal preferences the class is split into two, with 23 seats available for each. However, even in the third and fourth years, several of the two majors courses are the same, save about 12-15 core courses.

First-year students are assigned a faculty advisor who guides them throughout their five-year stay. Students can go to partner universities in Germany or Denmark for exchange in their third year. Though internships arent mandatory, almost all students complete around two or three during their time in the programme. For Avinaash R., III, Development Studies, the best part of the programme is interacting with the professors. They are amazing individuals from very strong academic backgrounds, have in-depth knowledge and never fail to inspire you, he says.

Originally posted here:

A liberal dose of the arts - The Hindu

It's 13 yearssince Peter King lost preselection to future prime minister Malcolm Turnbullduring an epic and bitterly fought battlein the blue ribbon Liberalseat of Wentworth.

The high-profile 2004 skirmishleft him humiliated and out of Parliament. But Mr King appears to be back,embarking on a series of presentations to local Liberal Partybranches.The unlikely topic? The threat of a nuclear strike by North Korea.

In a softly lit upstairs room in Paddington's Lord Dudley Hotel on Tuesdaynight last week, Mr King outlined a doomsday scenario reminiscent ofthe Soviet nuclear panic during the 1950s,perhaps appropriate given the average age of the 30 or so supporters in the room.

Joining Mr King was lawyer Matthew Bransgrove, co-author of what was being touted as a "civil defence plan".

At the outset, the pair declared thethreat of a North Korean nuclear strike so real that it warrantedestablishment of a 2000-kilometre "submarine exclusion zone" around Australia to guard against attacks.

These included the prospect of North Korean suicide bombers in submarines that, to avoid detection, would be made of fibreglass and could "employ a snorkel and travel at night under diesel power".

"A submarine attacking Sydney, for example, would surface once it had passed the Harbour Bridge and continue up the Parramatta River to the weir at Rydalmere before detonating," Mr King warned.

"Australia is utterly defenceless against such a suicidal submarine attack".

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A barrister and member of the naval reserve, Mr King argued that North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile tests meant its leader Kim Jong-un "will hold the power of life and death over us all very soon".

To prepare for a possible attack, MrBransgroveproposed that the federal government assessed "underground car parks, subways and road tunnels" as potential public bomb shelters.

He suggested two compulsory and "unannounced drills" should take place in every Australian city annually, one on a week day and one on a weekend, and there should be a network of early warning sirens established across public buildings.

Notably, Mr King's speech also tookaim at thefederal government's response to North Korea'sthreat to target Australia and declared "leadership is required" to implement his plan.

Mr King compared Mr Turnbull's response that Australia had"extensive arrangements with our allies, in particular the United States" with that of former British prime minister Stanley Baldwin who, during the 1930s, "buried his head in the sand as Germany begun its rearmament".

The speech to members of the Liberal Party Woollahra branch is the first of several Mr King hopesto deliver. An event is planned for Vaucluse members in a fortnight and another is slated for Bellevue Hill.

It has promptedspeculation Mr King may be positioning himself for a return tilt atpreselection for Wentworth, possibly ifMr Turnbull quits politics if he loses the leadership or the next election.

Mr King did not respond to a request for comment. For the moment, the focus appearedto be squarely on Kim, his missiles and, as one attendeeput it on the night, "scaring the pants off everyone".

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Back with a bang: Turnbull nemesis Peter King warns Liberal branches over North Korean strike - The Sydney Morning Herald

The White House announced Bannon and White House chief of staff John Kelly mutually agreed that Bannon's last day would be Friday. The statement came after several media reports that Bannon's departure was imminent.

The New York Times reported that Bannon submitted his resignation on Aug. 7, but the announcement was delayed after violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend.

Kuttner said Bannon, a populist who was said to be at odds with the more moderate members of the Trump administration, called him on Tuesday. During that conversation, Bannon contradicted the president's North Korea position and jabbed at colleagues.

"I wanted to give him enough rope, if you will. I wanted to let him say what he wanted to say, which was damning enough," Kuttner said.

"This is a guy who is strategically very smart, on the other hand who is so full of himself that he makes catastrophic errors."

The New York Times did not immediately comment in response to a request from CNBC.

CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.

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Liberal writer who talked to Bannon: One problem with theory that he resigned on Aug. 7 ... - CNBC

HBO Real Time host Bill Maher used his show Friday night to chart out a (comedic) courseforwardin the heated debate over the removal of Confederate memorials across the country. Followingthe violence that was seenat a white supremacistrally Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend, theres been a renewed scrutiny on the lasting symbols of the Confederacy.

I dont know how many people are out there like this, Maher said of theneo-Nazis and white supremacists who gathered to protest the removal of a Confederate statue, but he argued, too many stand silently in support as the memorials stoke hate and fear directed towards their neighbors.

What happened to Southern hospitality, Maher asked his panel. Just the idea that, Well, if this offends some people I wont do it.' Instead, Maher noted, it seems that the people who walk past these statues every day never ask themselves a simple question: What does this mean to other people?

Offering a few example monuments that could replace memorials to Confederate leaders like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, Maher joked that he wanted to show these heritage people what it would be like if you had to walk by a statue you didnt like every day.

First up: Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem.

As if the thought of a giant tribute to the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback wasnt offensive enough, Maher suggested a statute that is certain to offend the religious sensibilities of conservatives in the South.

The Evolution of Jesus would probably piss [them]off, Maher joked.

The War on Christmas memorial, modeled after the Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington D.C., depicted the pulling down of a Christmas tree instead of the raising of the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima.

Watch the full line-up of offensive liberal statues below:

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Bill Maher brilliantly trolls Confederate statue supporters with a list of liberal replacements - Salon

See below for an important update.

Google revealed in a blog post that it is now using machine learning to document "hate crimes and events" in America. They've partnered with liberal groups like ProPublica, BuzzFeed News, and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to make information about "hate events" easily accessible to journalists. And now, there are troubling signs that this tool could be used to ferret out writers and websites that run afoul of the progressive orthodoxy.

In the announcement, Simon Rogers, data editor of Google News Labs, wrote:

TheDocumenting Hate News Index built by theGoogle News Lab, data visualization studioPitch Interactiveand ProPublica takes a raw feed of Google News articles from the past six months and uses theGoogle Cloud Natural Language APIto create a visual toolto help reporters find news happening across the country. Its a constantly-updating snapshot of data from this year, one which is valuable as a starting point to reporting on this area of news.

The Documenting Hate project launched in response to the lack of national data on hate crimes.While the FBI is required by law to collect data about hate crimes, the data is incomplete because local jurisdictions aren't required to report incidents up to the federal government.

All of which underlines the value of the Documenting Hate Project, which is powered by a number of differentnews organisations and journalistswho collect and verify reports of hate crimes and events. Documenting Hate is informed by both reports from members of the public and raw Google News data of stories from across the nation.

On the surface, this looks rather innocuous. It's presented by Google as an attempt to create a database of hate crimes information that should be available with a quick Google search, it should be noted. But a quick glance atthe list of partners for this project should raise some red flags:

ProPublica poses as a middle-of-the-road non-profit journalistic operation, but in reality, it's funded by a stable of uber-liberal donors, including George Soros's Open Society Foundations and Herb and Marion Sandler, billionaire former mortgage bankers whose Golden West Financial Corp. allegedly targeted subprime borrowers with "pick-a-pay" mortgages that led to toxic assets that were blamed for the collapse of Wachovia. The Southern Poverty Law Center, of course, is infamous for targeting legitimate conservatives groups, branding them as "hate groups" because they refuse to walk in lockstep with the progressive agenda. And it goes with out saying that The New York Times and BuzzFeed News lean left.

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Google Working with Liberal Groups to Snuff Out Conservative ... - PJ Media